Imposing criminal or civil liability for false news has a chilling effect on someone reporting even true news if there is reason to believe that the government

Imposing criminal or civil liability for false news has a chilling effect on someone reporting even true news if there is reason to believe that the government might disagree with the reporting. I certainly wouldn't trust Trump's DOJ not to abuse such a law. Just look at how the Alien And Sedition Acts were abused. Supreme Court jurisdiction holds that commercial speech (advertising) is less protected than other speech. This is why laws against false advertising are usually upheld while similar laws against other kinds of false speech would be ruled unconstitutional.